Queens is burning by the open streets

 

Photo by Shebbie

 Eyewitness News

Several people, including a mom and her baby, were rescued by firefighters after a fire broke out at an apartment building in Queens Friday.

FDNY officials say the fire broke out just after 7 p.m. on the second floor of a four-story apartment building located at 34-09 83rd Street in Jackson Heights.

They say the fire originated in the kitchen area. When firefighters arrived, they encountered the fire coming from an open door leading to the public hallway.

As first responders began searching the building, they found several people trying to escape from the flames.

One of the tenants was located on the fire escape, while another tenant, a woman with a baby, was located on the roof of the building.

Firefighters rescued those tenants and brought them to EMS.

Officials say three civilians suffered minor injuries. It's not clear if those are the same three people rescued by first responders.

No firefighters were injured.

The fire was placed under control just after 8 p.m.

FDNY Deputy Chief Joseph Jardin said an e-bike or lithium-ion battery scooter was discovered near the kitchen, but it's not clear if that was what sparked the fire.

 

Queens is burning again: Lithium ion battery inferno guts electronics store selling unregistered motorcycles and a house blaze kills a woman and her son who tried to save her

A two-alarm fire that broke out in a commercial building in South Richmond Hill on Saturday night was caused by an exploding lithium-ion battery that saw nearly two dozen e-bikes erupt in flames, according to the FDNY. Fire marshals based their determination on a digital video recording that showed smoke coming from a battery and within 20 seconds it exploded sending a wall of flame that consumed the shop.

The blaze took place inside King Electronic Hub at 119-07 Liberty Ave. just after 9:45 p.m. and firefighters were met by heavy smoke spewing from behind roll-down security gates. The two-story building included apartments above.

 NY Post

An 86-year-old woman was killed in a Queens fire along with her son, who fearlessly rushed back inside the burning home in a desperate attempt to save his mother, according to witnesses and the FDNY.

The two-alarm blaze broke out in the basement of a house on 164th Street between 108th and 109th avenues in Jamaica around 6 p.m., catching the attention of passerby Gersham McGowan, who stopped and called 911.

But before placing the emergency call, McGowan said he spoke to the 61-year-old man outside the house, who told him he had to go back inside to rescue his elderly mom.

“He never came out, his mom never came out either and later on I saw they took two bodies from the house,” McGowan said.

 

Queens is burning again: Ebike battery explosion torches a house with illegal daycare center

NY Daily News  

The Queens daycare where 18 children were injured after a fire broke out due to a faulty lithium-ion battery was unlicensed and illegally running out of a basement, the Daily News has learned.

The fire started in the basement of the two-story home on 72nd Drive near 147th St. in Kew Gardens Hills around 2:05 p.m., FDNY officials said.

Both the daycare and a dentist lab were operating in the basement, which had been converted without a Department of Buildings work permit, the DOB said.

The blaze spread through the cellar of the single-family home when a charging e-bike exploded, sources said.

When firefighters arrived, five adults, one teenager and 19 children ranging from 16 months to 5-years-old were inside, the sources added.

A 16-month-old toddler was critically injured in the fire. The other kids did not require treatment, FDNY officials and sources said.

The injured buy suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit Thursday, sources said.

The childcare center is unlicensed, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services told The News.

“The agency is conducting a thorough review to determine if it was, in fact, operating illegally,” an OCFS spokesperson said in a statement.

A childcare license is required by the state if a person or program is caring for more than two children who are not related to them, away from the child’s home and on a regular basis for three or more hours per day.

Officials are still investigating whether the 18 children in the house were related to the home owner operating the daycare.

The DOB issued the owner two violations for illegal construction work to the basement and for operating businesses out of the space. City records had listed the basement as a storage area, the agency said.

 

Queens is burning again. It's a lithium ion battery again.

 

Eyewitness News 

 One person was killed and several others were injured in a house fire that broke out in Queens.

Officials say the heavy flames tore through the home on 89th Street in East Elmhurst at around 11 p.m. Friday.

As firefighters worked to put out the blaze, they found a man in his 60s unconscious on the second floor. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Some of the other residents were taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

Residents say an e-scooter could be to blame for the fire.

"I unplugged the scooter, I was on the first floor. As I'm putting cereal in a bowl, I heard an explosion, like gunfire. As I open the door to the second floor, those stairs were already on fire in seconds. It was a disaster," Jose Corona said.

Firefighters did pull a burnt scooter from the residence, but the official cause of the blaze is still under investigation.